Error communicating with device

[Odyssee]

After I connect my Kobo Aura I get an errormessage "error communicating with device". I can upload ebooks to my device though. Everything seems to be normal. However yesterday I noticed that almost all collections on my device had disappeared.
This communicating problem is recent, in any case after the upgrade to the 1.34 version of Calibre. I appreciate your help.

The error log:

calibre, version 1.34.0
ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device

database or disk is full

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 86, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 520, in _sync_booklists
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 923, in sync_booklists
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 2292, in update_device_database_collections
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 2556, in delete_empty_bookshelves
OperationalError: database or disk is full

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Odyssee

calibre, version 1.34.0
ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device

database or disk is full

Have you checked the disk space on the device? And also check the size of the database on the device. The database is in the directory ".kobo" and is called "KoboReader.sqlite". If the database is large, then it will need plenty of free space on the disk for any changes.

[Odyssee]

Thanks for your reply David. Yes I have checked the disk space. Of 3,17 Gb total space there is still 2,44 Gb free so that shoudn't be a problem. The koboreader.sqlite file is 24 Mb. Whether that is large or small, I can't say. There are app. 370 ebooks on my device.

O.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Odyssee

Thanks for your reply David. Yes I have checked the disk space. Of 3,17 Gb total space there is still 2,44 Gb free so that shoudn't be a problem. The koboreader.sqlite file is 24 Mb. Whether that is large or small, I can't say. There are app. 370 ebooks on my device.

O.

Where are you sending the books.
It is still possible to overload the (FAT) 'ROOT' folder (eg g:\) and have lots of SPACE available. FAT32 (formatting) is not as sensitive to this.

It is better to place files (books is files ) into 1 or more sub folders (as device rules allow)

[Odyssee]

I was not aware of the fact that it is possible to store books/files in subdirectories. Indeed everything is now in the Root. I transfer ebooks through Calibre. As far as I know there is only an option to send them to the main memory. Of course I can manually rearrange all the files on g:, i.e. move them to one of more subdirectories with the explorer but I am afraid that then the Aura doesn't function properly any more.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Odyssee

Thanks for your reply David. Yes I have checked the disk space. Of 3,17 Gb total space there is still 2,44 Gb free so that shoudn't be a problem. The koboreader.sqlite file is 24 Mb. Whether that is large or small, I can't say. There are app. 370 ebooks on my device.

That is plenty of space. And a 24MB database is relatively small. Mine is about 60MB at the moment.

I've done some research. It appears this error happens when the temporary disk space is full. On a Windows machine, that is usually a directory on the C-drive. I'd also wonder it if would happen there was a permissions problem with the temporary directory. That would also prevent anything from being written there and might be be reported as a space problem. There have been plenty of problems generally with calibre that appear to be permissions problems with the temporary directory.

[Odyssee]

Thanks for your help. I cleared all temp directories (on my Win 7 machine). There is lots of free space on my HD. Could it be that the database on my device is corrupt? In that case I suppose a reset to factory settings is the only thing to do?

[DoctorOhh]

I know nothing about this device but this error happens as theducks inferred when your device is formatted using fat 16 (FAT 32 is not subject to the same problem) and you have a bunch of files in the root directory. Simply place your books in a sub directory and right click to configure your device to use sub-directories. It looks like the device default is to use sub-directories.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Odyssee

Thanks for your help. I cleared all temp directories (on my Win 7 machine). There is lots of free space on my HD. Could it be that the database on my device is corrupt? In that case I suppose a reset to factory settings is the only thing to do?

It might be a corrupt database. The errors reported are usually more obvious.

A factory reset is usually overkill. You can logout on the device and that will generate a new database during the setup. This will also add all the books that are on the device back in.

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

I now nothing about this device but this error happens as theducks inferred when your device is formatted using fat 16 (FAT 32 is not subject to the same problem) and you have a bunch of files in the root directory. Simply place your books in a sub directory and right click to configure your device to use sub-directories. It looks like the device default is to use sub-directories.

The partition on the device that calibre can see is formatted as FAT32. This is done by the device during set-up or a factory reset. I don't think the device would work if someone had manually formatted it as FAT16. Plus the database file that seems to be causing the problem is in a sub-directory.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The partition on the device that calibre can see is formatted as FAT32.

So I was right I when I said, "I know nothing about this device"

[PeterT]

I dont think you had the option on the original device of a Logout to erase the database. Unfortunately, we've sold all our original Kobos some time ago, and can't check out the menus etc.

[Odyssee]

A device log out is beyond me, am I afraid, so I did a factory settings reset. Everything seems ok now apart from the fact that I have to upload all my ebooks again.

I may have been not too clear on the directories situation. I know there is an option somwhere in the calibre preferences. I did check this subdirectories options and all my ebooks are in seperate directories under the root. as it should be, as I know understand from your kind help.

[pipistrelosone]

Hi everybody,

I must start apologising for my english: it's only the fourth of my languages (spanish is the first, my mother's tongue). Please, be kind enough to ignore my faults...

I've a Kobo Aura HD, with a 32 Gb SD card, in wich some thousands of books. And I've seen this message several times when trying to copy in the memory card (I've tried: it also happens if I try to copy to Kobo's maim memory) new books. I don't know why. If you look to the details of the error message, I can see the title of a book, and it seems to be this book who produces the error when Calibre tries to copy to the Kobo device.

After some trials, I've found that the following procedure corrects the error:

• Convert the book from original format (im my case, always ePub) to another format (in general, I convert ot MOBI format)

• Delete the original ePub file

• Convert again the book, from MOBI to ePub

• Delete the MOBI file (you can keep all the two formats, if you want)

• Send the book to the Kobo device: no error is detected any more

For me, the real annoying thing is that, when I'm copying new books to the Kobo device (some times, several hundreds), if a book produces this error, the all task is cancelled (that is, if the book is at the last of the list, you've lost a lot of time transferring books that, finally, will not appear in the device).

I suppose this is a known problem for all Kobo's users (well, I suppose Kobo has not developped a fully different OS for every of hes devices). So, my questions to Calibre community:

• Could be it possible to open a "ticket" to Calibre's developpers, to check this problem, and try to do an utility allowing the checking of a list of files before trying to copy them in the device

• As it seems this is could be a Kobo's specific problem, could the Calibre community address this problem to Kobo company? (I have the feeling that, if I report directly this problem to Kobo, Kobo will ignore me)

Thnak you very much for any positive answer

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by pipistrelosone

I've a Kobo Aura HD, with a 32 Gb SD card, in wich some thousands of books. And I've seen this message several times when trying to copy in the memory card (I've tried: it also happens if I try to copy to Kobo's maim memory) new books. I don't know why. If you look to the details of the error message, I can see the title of a book, and it seems to be this book who produces the error when Calibre tries to copy to the Kobo device.

After some trials, I've found that the following procedure corrects the error:

• Convert the book from original format (im my case, always ePub) to another format (in general, I convert ot MOBI format)

• Delete the original ePub file

• Convert again the book, from MOBI to ePub

• Delete the MOBI file (you can keep all the two formats, if you want)

• Send the book to the Kobo device: no error is detected any more

For me, the real annoying thing is that, when I'm copying new books to the Kobo device (some times, several hundreds), if a book produces this error, the all task is cancelled (that is, if the book is at the last of the list, you've lost a lot of time transferring books that, finally, will not appear in the device).

I suppose this is a known problem for all Kobo's users (well, I suppose Kobo has not developped a fully different OS for every of hes devices). So, my questions to Calibre community:

• Could be it possible to open a "ticket" to Calibre's developpers, to check this problem, and try to do an utility allowing the checking of a list of files before trying to copy them in the device

• As it seems this is could be a Kobo's specific problem, could the Calibre community address this problem to Kobo company? (I have the feeling that, if I report directly this problem to Kobo, Kobo will ignore me)

All this makes me think you are using the KoboTouchExtended driver. This does on-the-fly conversion to kepub. If there are problems in the source epub, it will fail. That would give an error like you describe. And a conversion to mobi and back would probably fix the problems. Even a epub to epub conversion would probably fix it.

If I am right about the driver, you can report the failing books to the author of the driver. See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=211135 for details.

You can also do a conversion and keep the kepub in the calibre library. For this, you need the KePub Output Plugin. Then you send the kepub to the device. I don't use this enough to know if this would solve the problem you are seeing or not.

If I am wrong about the driver you are using, then I need more details about the error. From the details I can see where the error is happening and hopefully be able to fix it.

[pipistrelosone]

Hi, Davidfor,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

How can I know if I'm using the KoboTouchExtender driver? Sorry for my fully technical incompetence...

Regards,

Pipistrelosone